Thursday, March 20, 2014

The marriage of Pacific Northwest IPA and lager is one to be cherished, especially one by Pyramid Brewing Co. Hopped with Nugget and Chinook and followed by a dry hopping of Amarillo, Centennial and Sterling, Pyramid IPL is a combination of citrusy hop flavours and the cool, crisp finish of a lager. This brew has summer written all over it.

Four Winds just keeps hitting home runs, and Juxtapose proves no different than those beers that came before it. This Brett IPA has a hazy orange hue and a big tropical nose featuring citrus, pine, bready malts and of course that wonderful barnyard brettanomyces funk, while more tropical fruit, citrus and pine make themselves known on the palate. Well balanced with a lingering finish, this is a beaut of a beer.

One good Brett beer deserves another, and Le Trou du Diable serves one up with a bit of Quebecois flare. Clear copper in colour with mandarin peel, funky wood and red berries (this particular brew spent 18 months in Californian Syrah barrels) on the nose, this brew takes a step back from the aroma on the palate, but plays out beautifully with more funk and fruit to keep you sated. Sent straight from the beer heavens, this little gem of a barrel-aged beer wraps up dry.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

here are my notes from yesterday's beer column on cbc radio one's on the coast
talking about gmos in beer with mathew lazin-ryder:

Let's begin this post-St. Patrick’s Day column with a mention of green beer.

I am a fan of beer; good beer, quality
beer.If you could make your beer green
in colour without taking away from the quality of the beer, then I would be all
for it.To the best of my knowledge
though, the green beer on offer around Vancouver
is courtesy of green food colouring. As a card carrying beer geek I'm not down with that!

Which leads me to what else shouldn’t be in beer - such as
genetically modified organisms.

Beer has four
ingredients, water, yeast, hops and barley.Of those four, water is not a substance that can be genetically altered,
so it’s fine.Hops and barley are
currently not on a risk list, so they are not likely to contain GMOs.Yeast, however, is on the high risk
list.Adjuncts like corn and honey are
on the high risk list, with rice and wheat on the low-risk list.So it is possible that there are GMOs in your
beer.The jury is still out on whether
GMOs are harmful to humans, but they have been banned in many other
countries.Several recent polls show
that the majority of North Americans want GMO labelling, so it seems safe to
say that consumers do want to know what is in their food and beverages. And I should point out that the risk lists referred to above are from the Non-GMO Project and attached at the bottom of this post in their entirety.

There is currently
no legislation in Canada
to require that breweries, or any food producers for that matter, list
genetically modified ingredients in their products so there is no way to be
sure whether there are any in your beer, and if there are how wide-spread their presence is. I would assume that by using adjuncts like corn in their brews that macrobrews are far more likely to contain GMOs than the brews of craft breweries that use no adjuncts at all.

There are two verification processes though,
that can tell the consumer which products absolutely do not have GMOs in
them.Those are the Certified Organic
designation, and the Non-GMO Project verification that I mentioned earlierThere are a handful of breweries in the
country designated Certified Organic, but so far only one brewery is in the
process of obtaining Non-GMO Project verification.I spoke with several local breweries about
whether they think obtaining verification is important, and I got several different
viewpoints.

Any food products that are Certified Organic are GMO free by
definition.Breweries such as Crannog
and Nelson Brewing are Certified Organic.Rebecca Kneen of Crannog says they chose to be organic “because not only
are we therefore guaranteeing what we ourselves do, but we are responsible both
up and down the supply chain. So we know that none of the farms which grow our
barley grow any GMOs, for example.”

Claire Wilson of Dogwood Brewing, one of the breweries set
to open in 2014, is going to pursue Certified Organic status.She says that they“want to use
the buying power of our business to support local and organic suppliers, we
believe it makes a difference to the Health of our customers who drink our
product and to the environment we live in. ... When we can we should spend our
money on local and Organic Products in that order. “

I spoke to Becky Julseth of Saltspring Island Ales, the
brewery currently applying for Non-GMO Project verification about why they are
pursing the verification.“Our ultimate goal is to get certified Organic, but
it’s still really hard to secure a steady supply of a variety of organic
hops.We grow as much Organic hops as
we can here on Salt Spring, but it’s not yet enough to supply us year-round.We switched to 100% organic malts 2 years ago
(all the grain we use here is organic, all the time).”

Becky says that one of her motivations of getting into the
brewing business “was the opportunity to engage
with small-scale farming and the local food movement.Seemed contradictory to be growing hops on
the island and working on such an artisanal scale, but then buying our grains
from Cargill or Montsanto.Organic
grains are a little more expensive, but in the grand scheme, we feel better
about our products and our brand so it’s worth it.I like feeling like my business is supporting
a chain of goodness – both forwards to the customer and backwards to the
growers. “

Becky believes that getting certified by the Non-GMO Project
will show Saltspring Island Ales’ customers that they “throw our support behind smaller-scale, more sustainable farming.”

My entire interview with Becky is contained in a separate blog post.

On the other side of the equation, Dave Varga
of 33 Acres says that ensuring supply of Non-GMO ingredients is very difficult
for a small brewery:“It's not that easy to request non GMO products. If the
farmers cannot get the yield, they won't grow non GMO barley. If the quality of
barley isn't good, the maltsters have a hard time creating a product that makes
brewers happy. As a small craft brewer, if we don't get a consistent product,
we can have some real problems downstream in the brewing process that doesn't
yield a beer that a customer now expects.Until a very large production brewery starts requesting non GMO
products, it will be difficult for most of us smaller craft brewers to get
access to these non GMO products.”

And Parallel 49 has no desire to go Non-GMO.They are excited to try out some“GMO yeast
from UBC that can do some really interesting [things] now that the genome has
been mapped.”

At the end of the day, if what goes into their beer is
important to consumers, they can show that via their beer choices and by
opening dialogue with their local breweries.Part of the joy of having tasting rooms around town is the ability to
directly access the folks making your beer.Oh, and there’s social media too of course.I first heard about the Non-GMO Project
through a listener who tweeted me, wanting to know why there are currently no
breweries in North America verified by the
project.

Beer Picks:

I’m going all organic with these picks – not a GMO in sight!

Nelson Brewing After Dark brown ale

Crannog Brewing’s legendary Backhand of God stout

Saltspring Island Ale’s Porter

From the Non-GMO Project

APPENDIX B

List of Crops, Processed/Processing Inputs, Production Inputs, and other Organisms with GMO Risk

Crops - The following crops carry risk of being genetically engineered, because engineered varieties of these crops are grown large scale in North America and certain other parts of the world:These crops may not be used in Non-GMO Project approved products unless verified ascompliant with the Non-GMO Project Standard.

AlfalfaCanolaCorn Except popcornCottonPapaya

SoySugar beetsZucchini and yellow summer squash

Animal Derivatives - These include products derived from cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and other common livestock, fowl, and fish, and include the following:Most animal-derived products have GMO risk because soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola are commonly used in feed. Micro Inputs for feed such as vitamins may also carry risk of not being compliant with the Non-GMO Project Standard (see below).

Non-GMO Project StandardThese animal derivatives may not be used in Non-GMO Project approved products unlessverified as compliant with the Non-GMO Project Standard.

MilkMeat Hides and skins are also included in this category.EggsHoney and other bee products Due to potential for contamination with GMO crop pollen.Livestock Production Inputs

The following inputs may not be used unless verified as compliant with the Non-GMOProject Standard.

Processed/processing inputs and ingredients, and related derivatives, derived from crops, livestock, or microorganisms:

The following is a non-exhaustive list of derivatives with high GMO risk that are commonly used in food production. It is meant to provide examples of materials that will be considered high-risk in the Non-GMO Project Product Verification Program. The following inputs may not be used unless verified as compliant with the Non-GMO Project Standard.

Xanthan GumVitamins Vitamin A (various forms), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin), Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), and Vitamin E (various forms) are known to have GMO risk. Vitamins in general are often formulated with dispersants and relatedingredients that also have GMO risk (e.g., corn oil).Yeast products

APPENDIX CList of Monitored Crops

Crops - The following crops carry potential risk of being contaminated with GMOs:

Monitored crops include those for which suspected or known incidents of contamination have occurred, and those crops which have genetically modified relatives in commercial production with which cross-pollination is possible.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

In Old Norse Mythology Thor and his hammer Mjölnir represented thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees and anything else manly you can think of. Central City has managed to capture this idea, brew it and bottle it. Cloudy and copper in colour with a nose of caramelized malt, cereal and a touch of alcohol. Caramelized malt is the star on the palate alongside a big full body and of course more warming alcohol. A legendary brew good enough for any Norse god, Skâl!

We love the hop and our craving for it drives us to search for some serious brews, thankfully New Belgium has answered our call with their Rampant Imperial IPA. A beautiful light straw colour when its in the glass, this brew pumps out aromas of resinous pine, citrus, spice and a little floral bouquet of hop. On the palate more pine pops highlighted with citrus fruit and subtle tones of stone fruits like peach. A well-balanced brew that hits all the marks.

Sometimes a classic beer style hits the spot and with, fingers crossed, warmer weather around the corner this pilsner won’t stray far from the pack. Clear and golden in hue with plenty of grassy hop and grain to keep things balanced aromatically. Clean and crisp on the palate with equal parts grains and hop that once again balance each other out. Brewed to perfection this beer would quench the thirst of any pilsner lover.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

not gonna lie to you, my head was hurtin' this mornin'
the alibi 500 knocked the stuffin' outta me!

photo credit: rodney gitzel

here we are enjoying a glass of iain hill's oud bruin
the nail in the coffin of my feeling good this morning!

can i even remember what all i tried last night?
nope, but i did write it all down on my 500th beer list, which i inconveniently left at home
highlights include: four winds radler, lighthouse numbskull and brassneck / parallel 49 collaboration cereal killer
i really wanted the new belgium lips of faith terroir, but it wasn't cold enough to serve yesterday
i am debating whether my poor head can survive a return trip for it...

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

I like to drink it in a big pint glass with ice. I fill it with ice and I pour the champagne in it, because champagne can never be too cold. And the problem people have with champagne is they drink it and they crash with it, because the sugar content is so high and you get really dehydrated. But if you can get the ice in it, you can drink it supremely cold and at the same time you’re getting the melting ice, so it’s like a hydration level, and you can stay at this great level for a whole weekend. You don’t want to crash. You want to keep that buzz, that bling, that smile.
Then he likes to say a prayer and drink to world peace.

Monday, March 10, 2014

following on my naming a brewery bit for cbc radio, read about how ben coli came up with the name for his brewery and what it means to him in this first part of nine in scout magazine about opening up his own belgian-inspired brewery

Friday, March 7, 2014

An epic label for an epic stout from Quebec, this particular brew is jet black in the glass with prominent roasted malt, anise and dried fruit on the nose. Coffee, chocolate and more dried fruits (raisins and dates specifically) accompanied by some slight herbal hop show up on the palate, making this medium-bodied, dry-finishing stout a real hit.

Joel Wilson | Beer Team | Legacy Liquor Store

Nøgne Ø Tiger Tripel - $10.65

From the cold shores of Norway Nøgne Ø delivers a Tripel with a bit of Scottish inspiration. Golden brown in colour with rich ripe notes of stone fruit (peach and apricot) and a blend of spices such as nutmeg, pepper and anise on the nose. More stone fruit presents itself on the palate with even more spices like cinnamon, clove and a bit of paprika. Deceptively drinkable and just plain delicious, I say well played, Nøgne Ø.

A world-class beer through and through, this California take on a Flanders red is a deep, dark brown in colour, like mahogany. Flemish funk owns the nose with hints of tart berry and leather, while the palate is tart and dry with plenty of cranberry and black currant. This brew will make you say “wow” with its complex aroma and palate. Simply fantastic.

the beer newspaper that i am proud to have a regular column in
(sorry grammar police inside my head - make that: in which i am proud to have a regular column)
just got blogged about as an example of a niche newspaper
here to stay, or going down with the rest of the printed materials ship?

On the Coast beer columnist Rebecca Whyman looks at how craft beer makers name their beers

When it comes to buying beer, how much of your decision is based on the name of the beer, or the brewery? Of course, what's in the bottle is far more important than the label on the outside, but what should a beer name tell you about what you're drinking? These are competitive times in the craft beer business and branding is a big part of nabbing a piece of the growing market.

On the Coast's beer columnist Rebecca Whyman, a member of Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), says breweries are often named after the proprietors. The name has to be catchy, but there's more to it than that. It has to be authentic as well, and it helps to have a connection to the name or even the neighbourhood where the brewery is based.

Whyman says the brewers at Deep Cove and Bridge, for example, grew up in the community. If there's a community connection, it can turn people from drinking other beer to drinking local beer.

The other factor is competition, she says. Names of beers have more flexibility, and breweries can have fun with names, like Hoparazzi by Parallel 49 or Back Hand of God stout by Crannog Ale. But what happens when there are too many beer names and the field becomes too crowded? It can be dangerous as companies will go after breweries for infringing on trademarks. Local brewer Parallel 49 was warned after it called one of its beers "Lord of the Hops." But people are definitely having fun with beer puns, and there's even a new CAMRA award for "Best Beer Pun."
In the industry, some feel the irreverent naming of beers have gone too far and have suggested reverting back to naming the beer after its style — for instance, stout, ale, or pilsner. Isn't it more fun, though, to say you're drinking the Toques of Hazzard, instead of drinking just a plain old IPA?

This week's beer recommendations:
Whyman draws on the long list of local winter seasonal beers for her picks this week:

33 Acres of Darkness (available in bottles at the liquor store or on tap at the brewery)

22 casks including a special cask from Driftwood and collaboration brews are coming to the Alibi Room starting March 9th for their 500th. You can buy beer for 500 cents, and each day the Alibi Room will donate $500 to the Food Bank.

Bomber Brewing recently opened on Adanac Street, so head over and try their ESB.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

here are my notes from yesterday's beer columnon cbc radio's on the coast with stephen quinnWhat's in a name? Shakespeare tell us that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But would a beer by any other name garner as much market share?

Naming a brewery is no small task, and its a different process for everyone. As Aaron Jonkheere says in his blog I'm Starting a Brewery: "You see the name is always the first thing people ask about your brewery. So you want a name you are proud of and represents some aspect of what you are doing or what you stand for IMO [in my opinion]." And I think that is true for every brewery name.

Some people go with a geographical place name (Powell Street Brewing, Vancouver Island Brewing, Deep Cove Brewing), some with their own name (Russell, Hoyne, Phillips, R&B), some go with a theme that speaks to them (Green Leaf, Four Winds). Regardless of which way you choose to go though, when you are starting up a new brewery you have to have a marketable name. Especially now with so many new breweries opening up in the Lower Mainland the need to have a recognizable brand to help you stand out is integral to a successful operation - almost as important as the beer itself.

If you've never heard of the two beers in front of you before, odds are that the names of them will influence your choice between the two. The one with the less attractive name may be a much better beer, but if you have only the names to go on, it is less likely to be the beer you would choose. Without any other information, we do tend to judge books by their covers.

I had the opportunity to lead a couple of focus groups for a soon-to-be-opened brewery in Vancouver. More than just helping narrow down a list of possible names, the focus groups gave the owners insight into what people were looking for behind a brewery name. Sure it's great to have a brewery named after your neighbourhood. But more important than that people said, was that they wanted authenticity behind choosing that name. In addition to locating the brewery in the neighbourhood, do the owners have a connection to that neighbourhood? Do they give back to the neighbourhood? Who are they and what are they about? It's all well and good to find a catchy name and build a brand around it, but beer drinkers want to know that there is substance behind that name and branding.

It was very interesting to see how people's reactions to certain names changed from their first impression on just hearing the name to learning the story behind choosing that name and what it meant to the owners. Some back story can go a long way in making a top ten name jump to top two on a list of potential names. I think the same is true to having a beer bottle on the shelf of a store catch your eye and then reading a mission statement on a website that gives you insight into the people who made that beer. I know I become more invested in the whole beer drinking experience the more I can feel a connection to the beer. You can hook me with the name, but you'll only keep me with a quality product and a connection to the people behind it.

So a name has to be catchy and authentic. AND no one else has to have trademarked it or anything similar yet. It's a tall order, but obviously one that is not slowing down the rapid growth of breweries in British Columbia!

How about naming the beers? Do breweries need to put as much thought into those as they do naming the brewery? It certainly helps with branding if your beer names are deliberate and closely follow the brewery name. There is a lot more wiggle room here than there is in naming a brewery though. I think brewers have a lot more fun naming their beers than they do their breweries. You can be playful in naming a beer in a way that might come off as too flippant when naming a brewery. Which is not to say that naming a beer is all fun and games. A lot of thought still has to go into the process.

Naming beers can be straightforward, like 33 Acres naming their beers 33 Acres of something (Life, Ocean, Darkness, Sunshine). Other breweries aren't so literal but still keep a theme going, like Granville Island Brewing whose regular beers are all named after local places: Robson Street Hefeweisen, Brockton IPA, Cypress Honey Lager, Kitsilano Maple Cream, English Bay Pale Ale. Yet others go for a more eclectic approach, but keep their beer names in tune with the personality of the brewery, like Brassneck with their Passive Aggressive, Attention Seeker, One Trick Pony and The Geezer.

Then there are others like Parallel 49 that go all out in the fun department with puns for many of their beer names. It has become their schtick and they're getting quite a lot of attention over it. Unfortunately, not all of it is good. They got a cease and desist letter about one of their beers that trod a little too closely on the trademark of a certain very popular movie trilogy.

There are also more and more cease and desist letters being written between breweries as beer names start to tread on each others' trademarks. One beer writer (in Beer Advocate magazine) has called for a return to style names to combat this issue. So instead of it being, say, "33 Acres of Life", the name would be "33 Acres California Common"; instead of Crannog's "Backhand of God", it would be "Crannog Stout". Some breweries such as Four Winds and Central City already follow this model for naming most of their beers.

I can see Andy Crouch's point, it sure would clear up a lot of confusion for the consumer and preclude a lot of lawsuits, not to mention being a whole lot easier to keep track of who brewed which beer. Going with style names for beer would also remove the chance that consumers could find your beer name offensive.

But, but, but I think life would be just a little less fun if my beers all just had style names. I love a good beer pun - and a bad one! And clever names do make me more likely to try that beer over the one next to it on the shelf if I haven't heard of either of them. However, where will brewers go to name their beers as more product floods the market and they try to stand out? I keep saying that I think we're still a ways off from hitting the saturation in the local beer market, but I think we're much closer to reaching a very awkward point of just too many beer names. I am already having trouble keeping track of them all. I am interested to see how the situation develops over the next couple of years. And in the meantime I look forward to hearing Parallel 49's next beer pun.

Beer Picks:

Before all the Spring seasonals hit the market, I suggest taking the opportunity to drink winter seasonals before they're gone.

Like 33 Acres of Darkness, available in bottles at the liquor store or on tap at the brewery

Monday, March 3, 2014

Hear ye hear ye! Alibi Room has announced the date for their 500 tap rotation celebration!

Alibi 500th starts 2pm on March 9th. No tickets. First come, first sat. Rich Hope as always. Then Mon-Thurs 5pm-close. More details... 12oz Sleeves of ALL beers will be 500cents 9th-13th... They will be donating $500 per day to the food bank for the 5 days...

About Me

i didn't always love beer - there was a time in the distant past where i just didn't have a taste for it. fortunately my taste buds changed and my love affair with beer began. slowly at first, eventually blowing itself up into my current obsession with all things beer. i enjoy drinking beer, but i also enjoy reading about beer, talking about beer, thinking about beer and one day soon will actually brew something worth bragging about. my overwhelming beer obsession is hops - love them, can't get enough of them, grow them! you can hear me wax poetic about beer every second tuesday at 5:50 p.m. on cbc radio one's on the coast with stephen quinn (88.1 fm in vancouver and 690 am).